DIY Jason Wu snake paneled sweater

2013 is the year of the snake and reflects in fashion, too.

For F/W 2013 we see a plethora of reptiles of any kind whether in garments, shoes, accessories, or accents.

my inspiration board on Polyvore
The one that triggered my DIY imagination is this sweater by Jason Wu with the raglan sleeves and the snake paneled front. ...So I started knitting. The back is in stockinette with ribbed 1:1 edge and the sleeves are in seed stitch with 1:1 ribs at the wrists. I decided to use the cashmere and silk blend yarn that I previously used and had to un-ravel because I ended up not having enough, so now I have just a bit of leftover (that wil not go to waste). Because the front panel is completely replaced and attached to the back and the sleeves, this is the kind of project that can be perfect for a stained or ruined existing sweater. Just un-stitch the sides, the sleeves, and the collar and use the front as template to cut the leather or faux-leather.

left: Net-a-Porter / collage by moi

make a paneled sweater: supplies

- an existing sweater with raglan sleeves or knit your own back, sleeves, ribbed edge for the front and collar - Omnigrid Rotary Cutting Kit

(you can cut with scissors, but to get the perfectly straight edge I highly recommend a rotary cutter)
- Leather Machine Needles-Size 14/90 5/Pkg

- leather python print

(1) or snake faux leather

(1 yr) or... in my case: I found this coat on my eBay shopping spree for 40$. The leather is amazingly soft, and I only used three parts for the sweater, so I still have a ton left.
- black silk for lining (less than 1yr) - from my stash.

snake print paneled sweater the how-to // tutorial:

Because I used an existing garment, I had to cut a straight edge
on every single part of the leather and sew them together.
Use the existing part of the sweater as a template and leave an extra 1/2" on each side.

Use the leather needle on your sewing machine and set the stitch length to 3 or 3.5:
I overlapped the pieces of leather and sew the closest I could go.
I used small pieces of double sided tape to keep the parts together without using pins.

Start by sewing the leather panel on the ribbed edge of the font,
keeping the ribbed edge slightly stretched.

Then sew the sides and the sleeves.

The ribbed neck is the only wool part that I sew over the leather:
pin in place and sew over.

Lining is optional, but recommended:
Leather tend to stick to other fabric (if you are waring a shirt underneath) and could leave some fuzz.
I used some black silk:
both for warmth and because silk is not static.
Again, cut the piece of silk using the same template of the front paneled sweater,
fold the edges in and hand sew with small stitches along the knit.
And there you have it!
Fall is officially in and I'm in full swing to keep myself warm!

xox, d.

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